Mike Krahulik (/krəˈhuː.lɪk/; born September 25, 1977) is the artist for the popular webcomicPenny Arcade and co-founder with Jerry Holkins of Child's Play, a charity that organizes toy drives for children's hospitals. He goes by the online moniker "Jonathan Gabriel" or "Gabe". He does not physically resemble his comic strip counterpart, as the character was not originally meant to represent him.

Contents

Krahulik credits cartoonist Stephen Silver as a major influence on his drawing style. His style has dramatically changed since he began drawing Penny Arcade in 1998.[1]

Krahulik has done promotional comics for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and many other video games. He also provided the illustrations for the cover of Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi.[2] In his early career he contributed artwork to the Daily Victim, a regular feature that used to run on GameSpy, totaling more than 300 illustrations.

He is also known as the powerful wizard Jim Darkmagic of the Newhamp Shire (which was deemed much more suitable by Chris Perkins than regular New Hampshire) Darkmagics in Acquisitions Incorporated, a Dungeons and Dragons podcast/live show.

Krahulik has been in press online, thanks to hostile phone calls from Jack Thompson regarding an email Krahulik had sent. The email was in response to an offer Thompson had made ("A Modest Video Game Proposal") to video game creators about creating an ultra-violent game based on a man whose son was murdered by a supposedly video game-influenced teen. Thompson claimed he would donate $10,000 towards a charity of former Take-Two Interactive chairman Paul Eibeler's choosing if the game was made (which it eventually was). Krahulik, in the email, said he and fellow gamers had raised about half a million dollars toward charity. According to Krahulik, "Jack actually just called and screamed at me for a couple minutes. He said if I email him again I will 'regret it'. What a violent man."[3]

Mike Krahulik, along with the rest of the Penny Arcade staff, later opted to "step in" for Jack Thompson. Thompson refused to donate $10,000 to charity because he considered the game put forth to meet his challenge subpar. He also claimed that his proposal was satirical and not a serious offer. Penny Arcade donated the money in his stead to the Entertainment Software Association with the note, "For Jack Thompson, because Jack Thompson won't".[4][5]

Krahulik has been sometimes noted by marginalised groups for his controversial opinions involving topics about the transgender community and rape,[6][11][12] which has often resulted in polarized responses within and outside the PAX community. Often absorbed by the community in the form of social references, members of the Penny Arcade community have produced timelines illustrating these events to explain the social dilemmas and resultant memes.[13] In 2013, Krahulik apologized and donated $20,000 to LGBTQ youth suicide prevention group The Trevor Project.[14]